 Whether you’re young, old, or in-between, there’s a certain magic to the woods in any season. Thanks to Lilah Brackett’s delightful poem, “Lost in the Woods,” we all can experience the magic of the winter woods from the comfort of our cozy homes.
Lilah is a fourth-grader at Mill Pond School. She wrote her poem after her resourceful teacher, Joan Sanders, took her class on a walk on the trails in the Headwaters Conservation Area (HCA), located right next to the school.
It is encouraging to see the HCA used in teaching Westborough’s students, as so many town residents and WCLT members hoped teachers would do when Mill Pond School was built next to Town conservation land. WCLT members and other volunteers have worked hard to build and map trails in the HCA, and they continue to maintain the trails so that everyone can enjoy this wonderful natural area. Photo: Joan Sanders
Click here for the HCA trail map.
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The January day was perfect for a rare opportunity: a walk to Cedar Swamp Pond. For WCLT’s Cedar Swamp Pond hike, led by Marge Fisher, the weather was mild but the ice was solid enough for walking on the frozen swamp and pond. In past years, the weather has often been too frigid, too warm for solid ice, or too snowy for such a trek, so this day was a real treat for the 26 hikers who showed up for the 2.5-mile round  trip starting at St. Luke’s fields. Not many people get to see Cedar Swamp Pond because it can be reached by foot only when the swamp is frozen and by canoe or kayak only when water is high in the Sudbury River during a few weeks in spring.
Cedar Swamp and Cedar Swamp Pond are the headwaters of the Sudbury River. The pond is a kettle hole, created when a retreating glacier left a buried block of ice that eventually melted, making a depression that filled with water. Several Westborough brooks drain into Cedar Swamp, including Denny Brook, Jackstraw Brook, Piccadilly Brook, and Rutters Brook, plus Whitehall Brook in Hopkinton.
The swamp and pond are named for the native Atlantic white cedar trees (Chamaecyparis thyoides) that still grow near the pond. These evergreen trees are easy to spot in winter when little else is green in the swamp.
Photos: Top two by Warren Anderson, bottom by Jeff Furber
Click here for the South Cedar Swamp trail map.
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Join WCLT’s 20th Annual Earth Day Cleanup & Volunteer Picnic Lunch Saturday April 21
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Spring is right around the corner, so please plan to rally your friends, neighbors, and co-workers to help make Westborough brighter and cleaner and then join our Earth Day pizza lunch for volunteers 11:30 am - 1 pm at Bay State Commons on Saturday, April 21st. Participants will also receive a complimentary bouquet of flowers from Mugford’s Flower Shoppe. Cleanup start times and locations, rain or shine that morning, are:
 6:30 am at Westmeadow Plaza traffic island (Rt. 9/135, adjacent to JP’s, Papa Gino’s)
6:30 am at Bellows Road & Rt. 9/30 (behind St. Mary’s Credit Union)
9:30 am at Bay State Commons (trash bags and maps of littered areas in town will be distributed to participants.)
Please wear gloves, long pants, long sleeves, and sturdy shoes. Trash bags will be provided.
If you have any questions or would like to suggest sites in town that need litter removed, please contact Bruce Tretter at 508-446-7790 or earthday@westboroughlandtrust.org. For your convenience, click here for optional online registration. Photo: Bruce Tretter
WCLT thanks our donors: Arturo's Ristorante, Mugford's Flower Shoppe, Roche Bros. Supermarkets, Route 9 Dunkin' Donuts, and both Westborough Stop & Shop stores.
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Business partners show leadership & stewardship
Many thanks to WCLT’s business partners – EMSEAL Corporation, Pearson Advisory Investor Relations, Thomas Financial Associates, Arturo's Ristorante, and Julio's Liquors – for their leadership and environmental stewardship in supporting the mission of WCLT. They help us to preserve and protect more land and to offer trails and educational programs to the greater Westborough and Central Mass Communities. Find out how your organization can join WCLT as a business partner by contacting: bizpartners@westboroughlandtrust.org
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What do a flying squirrel, a fox, and a porcupine have in common? They are all native to Westborough, and you can meet them, plus many more live local animals, at the Westborough Community Land Trust’s free live animal show, "Nature of My Back Yard" presented by The Creature Teachers, on Saturday, March 24, 2018. TWO one-hour shows will take place at 9:00 and 11:00 am.
Bring the family – our popular spring live animal show is always a big hit with the young and the curious of all ages! Plan to arrive early as seating is limited.
Location: Knights of Columbus Hall, 17 Willow St., Westborough MA; parking lot in rear. Overflow parking is in Arturo’s parking lot, 54 East Main St.; walk around behind the Arturo’s building to cross directly into the K of C parking lot. There is no parking along Willow Street.
No reservation required. Free; donations gratefully accepted at the door. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Westborough Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, and in part by the Westborough Newcomers Club. Contact: events@westboroughlandtrust.org
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This spring, Stewardship chair Keith Martin reports that the Stewardship Committee will continue work at the Adams Street trailhead, along the Malley Trail, and on the Orchard Swamp Trail where the section from Haskell Street to East Main Street was severely damaged by a 2016 microburst.
You can help! If you regularly walk the trails in Westborough, it’s easy to help us keep the trails in good shape. If you notice any problem areas (fallen trees, trash, graffiti, or trails becoming too narrow due to foliage growth), please send a report by email to Keith at stewardship@westboroughlandtrust.org. If you are interested in becoming a trail monitor, or you are willing to help out with some occasional trail work, send a note to the same address. There is now a mailing list for volunteers, and we’d be happy to add you to it!
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